Partner Questions Arising from LIFT’s Call for Proposals: Uplands Programme,

Version November 19, 2015

1
Risks / The direction given is ‘Identify and list major risk factors that could result from project activities and/or the project not producing the expected results. These should include both internal / operational factors (e.g. the technology involved fails to work as projected) and external factors (e.g. government policy changes)….
Usually doing risk identification it is identifying likelihood and magnitude of threats/ opportunities impacting the project objectives. Not what risks the project activities will create, as requested.
Please can you confirm the correct approach. The examples given seem to match better with identifying impact on the project.
Yes, LIFT would like applicants to list the risks (threats, opportunities) that are likely to impact the project objectives.
The wording in the CfP should be amended as follows:
“Identify and list major risk factors that could impact project activities and/or could detract the project from producing the expected results. These should include both internal / operational factors (e.g. the technology involved fails to work as projected) and external factors (e.g. government policy changes).”
2
Key personnel / Page 11 of the proposal guidelines references CVs of key personnel (e.g. chief of party, project director, senior technical advisor). Can LIFT confirm if they require implementing partners to have all key personnel staff identified during the proposal stage?
Yes. The applicants should have identified their key personnel responsible for implementation, and have agreement from these people to be on the team. LIFT expects a list of proposed candidates (only for key position(s)). If there are positions that the applicant proposes to recruit competitively then the applicant should identify what the positions are, what the role specifications are.
3
Direct / Indirect costs / Page 12 of the proposal guidelines state that “Costs incurred at headquarters outside Myanmar will only be considered in exceptional cases”. Related to this reference, can LIFT please confirm the following:
a. This refers to costs over and above the 6% allowance for indirect costs and that headquarters costs can be included within the 6%?
b. If this reference includes indirect costs, can an exceptional case be granted for our organization where our indirect cost recovery, which we apply across projects, covers a number of HQ-level activities critical to effective management and stewardship of donor funding including expenses associated with audit and legal services, finance, human resources and information technology?
  1. It means that costs incurred at headquarters are eligibleas direct costs only if they are clearly attributable to the project and if they are auditable (see the answer to the question 2 in the Q/A published on 11 November).Indirect costs do not require justification and attribution. As such they can be used for headquarter expenses.
  2. LIFT indirect cost is only 6%. This is not negotiable. Any other costs need to be shown as direct costs.

4
Financial Inclusion /
  • Has LIFT's intervention with Yoma already begun and, if so, are there any project documents available or is there anyone at Yoma we can speak to about it?
  • With this support, will Yoma be expected to target small-scale farmers or focus more on larger scale farmers and MSMEs?
  • Given that some of the target population are currently engaged in subsistence activities and do not have a credit history, they may not immediately qualify for a loan from Yoma. As an alternative, would LIFT be open to Yoma providing wholesale funding to the cooperative (as a local MSME) which would be then on-lent to the farmers?

  1. LIFT is currently negotiating a contract with Yoma for a Partial Risk Guarantee Fund (PRGF). Project documents are not public. More information and contacts will be shared with partners once this agreement will be finalized, probably early next year.
  2. Initially, the PRGF will be supporting Yoma Bank’s expansion into hire-purchase/leasing for small scale agricultural technologies. Yoma Bank can finance who they choose, small-scale or larger scale farmers (with some decisions on larger hire-purchase made collaboratively).
  3. At this time, no wholesale funding will be available from Yoma Bank. For this purpose, the government cooperative sector has access to USD 300 million from the China EXIM Bank.